el 15 de abril
Today truly was a life-changing experience. We volunteered at the Safe Passage school, our first day helping students ages nine through eleven. Despite one of the teacher´s warning about the kids´high aggression, the children were just like middle school students in America. They were boisterous, energetic, and highly affectionate - hugging us, holding our hands, and constantly seeking our attention. One certain boy stole my heart when he suddenly gave me a hug and said, ¨I love you, baby.¨Comical boys played drums on Mr. Miller´s head during lunch, while a group of girls swarmed and tickled Emily in the school´s small, evergreen courtyard.
Our first volunteer job was to aid English teachers. We broke up into groups of two and three to each be assitants to one teacher. Mr. Morales helped the English teacher Liz act out a book I was reading called Good Friends. The kids wholeheartedly laughed when Mr. Morales acted out a falling scene of the book.
After helping out in the English classes, we made tie-die shirts with two groups, each during different times. Katie explained thoroughly in perfect Spanish instructions while Emily demonstrated scrunching the shirts and tying them up in rubberbands. The children seemed very interested in the activity, determined to make a ¨camisa bonita, ¨one girl said.
Our next activity was the building with marshmallows game, where kids divided into five groups and designed and built a creative, tall, and sturdy structure with marshamallows. Eating the marshmallows after constructing was their favorite part of the game.
The final activity was the human knot game. First, we spread into groups of two or three, extended our hands into the middle of the circle of people, and grabbed two other peoples´hands. We tried to untangle into a circle. The first group to do so, won the competition. Then, we played with one huge group of 20 kids. Surprisingly, we were able to untangle ourselves!
Although we knew we were coming back two days later, we felt sad to leave the loveable children.
